Keywords
meat exudate
food security
agglutination tests
How to Cite
Abstract
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic zoonosis with a wide worldwide distribution caused by
Toxoplasma gondii, which is considered one of the most successful protozoa on the planet,
since it can infect a third of the world population. Among the forms of transmission,
consumption of undercooked meat has been considered as a risk factor for the acquisition of
this zoonosis. An alternative approach to toxoplasmosis control by beef ingestion could be the
serological diagnosis in cattle, since seropositives animals harbor tissue cysts. However, the
use of serum for this evaluation is not always feasible due to the difficulty of blood collection
during slaughter and its absence in commercial beef cuts. Meat exudate is an alternative for
the detection of anti-T. gondii antibodies in commercial beef cuts, which was the propose of
this study to evaluate the performance of Indirect Hemagglutination (HI) and Agglutination
Modified (MAT) tests compared to ELISA using meat exudates. This study showed that the
agglutination tests accuracy was not viable due to low sensitivity and specificity indexes when
compared to ELISA. These data demonstrate the importance of choosing accurate tests such as
ELISA for application in quality control and safety of commercial beef cuts.
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